FOREX-Dollar bounce holds as traders trim short bets

* Dollar posts first consecutive sessions of gains since
June
* Euro retreats from $1.20 as investors take profit
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E

By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The dollar clung to overnight
gains on Thursday, as investors trimmed bets against the
greenback and sold the euro on concerns that the European
Central Bank was worried about its rise.
The bounce has lifted the greenback about 1% above the
28-month low it hit against a basket of currencies on Tuesday
and brought its first back-to-back daily gains since June
=USD .
Few analysts expect it to hold for too long but it was
steady in morning trade, inching about 0.1% firmer on the
Australian dollar, kiwi, euro and pound as investors position
themselves ahead of U.S. jobs data due on Friday.
"You could put (the dollar bounce) down to a bit of a trend
reversal, it's had a long run downwards," said BNZ senior
markets strategist Jason Wong. "But if it is a floor, it's only
a short term one," he said.
"It's probably just a pause. Everyone's pretty bearish
dollars for good reason," he added, pointing to the Federal
Reserve's policy outlook that will likely keep rates very low
for a long time.
The drop in the euro extended its retreat from the $1.20
mark, which had begun on Tuesday after the ECB's chief economist
Philip Lane said the euro-dollar rate "does matter" for monetary
policy - suggesting the bank might do something about it.
Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank
in Sydney said that was unlikely, but that "Lane's comments were
the excuse for some traders to take profits on long euro
positions" that had begun to look stretched.
The value of euro longs stood at a record high last week
EURNETUSD= .
The euro EUR=EBS was last at $1.1836, having fallen half a
percent overnight, and it made a fresh three-month low of 88.71
pence EURGBP= . The pound GBP= slipped to $1.3338, but was
above an overnight trough of $1.3284.
The Australian dollar AUD=D3 dipped to $0.7331 and the
kiwi NZD=D3 was a touch softer at $0.6764, though it has put
up the toughest fight against the dollar's bounce and is only
about 0.4% below a 13-month high touched on Wednesday.
The Japanese yen JPY= is gradually settling back towards
where it was before Shinzo Abe resigned as Prime Minister as his
close ally Yoshihide Suga firms as the favourite to succeed him.
Suga formally declared his candidacy for the Liberal
Democratic Party leadership on Wednesday and he is expected to
persist with Abe's aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus
policies. The yen slipped marginally to 106.21 per dollar.
Ahead on Thursday are purchasing managers index figures in
Asia, Europe and the United States. Markets are also awaiting
U.S. payrolls figures on Friday.